Hurricane Ida in Microsoft Flight Simulator Shocks Players With Instant Weather Change
Several hours ago, the powerful Hurricane Ida reached the coast of Louisiana. After turning on live weather, Microsoft Flight Simulator players were able to feel the power of the elements firsthand.
At the moment the state of Louisiana on the south coast of the USA is struggling with the effects of the devastating Hurricane Ida, which made landfall several hours ago. The storm reached New Orleans, where it wreaked havoc for several hours with wind speeds of up to 300 kph. The wind has torn down roofs and knocked down trees, and heavy rainfall along with the storm surge resulted in numerous floodings. The destructive power of the hurricane was witnessed by one of the Microsoft Flight Simulator players, who turned on the "live weather" option during a low-level flight over New Orleans. After its activation, the game recreates current weather conditions in a particular area.
User MmmMmmmRyan shared a video of a flight in the middle of a hurricane on Reddit:
The Reddit user's flight, as expected, ended in a quick crash due to harsh conditions, which shows that there is no joking around with the nature. Another player who was approaching the landing also had to contend with the hurricane.
However, the most impressive view was shown by user ColoradoRMN, who in his material from Microsoft Flight Simulator recorded a flight through the eye of the storm at the moment when Ida was just accelerating over the ocean. While the simulation doesn't do a 100% justice to the actual weather conditions, it can be assumed that they were reproduced with a fair decent of precision, at least visually.
As it turns out, locating Ida was not that easy at all; in the comments under the video, the author of the video explains:
"Since it is live weather and conditions change, it is not as easy as it looks. I also think the visibility going near 0 over the last 6-10 hours makes this more difficult. The storm had better viability in the green and red radar regions as well as the transition from red to purple in the areas I was flying. However, the conditions changed and it is producing much more rain along with near 0 viability conditions when I was flying over last 6-10 hours," writes the author of the video, ColoradoRMN.
By this point, Hurricane Ida had weakened and was degraded to tropical storm category and wind speeds had dropped to about 60 mph, but that doesn't mean the danger is over - both in the real world and for aviators in MSFS.
